2012 Calla Lily Ultimate Red Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Happy Saturday!  It's been a while since my last post, and there's a reason for that.  I'm in a production of The Music Man at the Elkhart Civic Theatre and since the play opens in just a few weeks, I've been at rehearsals every night from 6:30-9:30, so it puts a bit of a damper on my wine drinking and blogging.  But tonight I have the night off and I've opened a bottle of 2012 Calla Lily Ultimate Red Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  I don't know the winery at all, but I know that 2012 was an outstanding vintage for Napa Cabernet, so I picked up a couple bottles of this wine recently from Wines Till Sold Out.  So let's see how it's tasting.

The wine is a deep inky black at the center with bright ruby along the edges, just as you'd expect from a quality Cabernet.  The nose is a subdued affair, with some leather, blackberry and dried flowers.  The taste is layered, with a rush of tart cherry at the outset that transitions to some earthy notes of dusty limestone, before reaching a climax with some sweet notes of kirsch at the finish.  The tannins are nicely structured for the long, smooth and very dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8, it's a good wine, but not spectacular, though I will say I opened it up about an hour before I wrote this and in the hour since it's opened up quite a bit, so perhaps best to decant this one a couple hours before you want to drink it.  This wine would pair well mainly with grilled meat, anything from steaks and chops to barbecue, this wine needs to be consumed with some char!  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with a rare grilled New York strip along with grilled leeks and garlic scapes and some grilled asparagus as well as a big baked potato.  Cheers!